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Hope Has Its Reasons
paperback
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You long for love and happiness. But so often you are blocked from satisfying that longing. What are the barriers? Why are they so troublesome? How does spirituality play a role?
Rebecca Manley Pippert examines these persistently human questions in this thoughtful and personal book. She invites you to join her on a journey exploring the region between faith and unbelief where your hopes and doubts mingle. Calling as expert guides such thinkers as Albert Camus and C. S. Lewis, she cites freely her own experiences and sets out the questions all face--questions about significance, meaning, love, life and truth, the search for encouragement and security.
Pippert offers no canned formulas or saccharine cliches. In this revised and updated edition she squarely engages your uncertainty, disappointment, longing for fulfillment, and the reality of pain and suffering. Such realism rings in the stories she tells and in the ideas she explores. In doing so she leads you beyond the search for your own significance to the reasons you have for your hope of discovering God.
"Unless you are willing to be shaken and humbled, don?t read this book. But if you are . . . then read and begin your own journey along a road less traveled."
"No one in my experience has comprehended the breadth and length, the height and depth of the love of God like Becky Pippert. A realist of the first order, she maintains a faith of the highest order. Whatever cynicism is, Becky is the antithesis."
"A book of divine discomfort, showing, among other things, how pride, anger and the failure to forgive others can masquerade as holiness."
"Utilizing psychology, literature, personal experience and theology, [Pippert] develops a compelling case for the truth of Christianity with its existence-transforming message of faith and hope."
"A careful look at modern man's old-fashioned problem: sin. . . . [Pippert's] own observations and conversations, coupled with extensive references to great literature, make good reading, convincing reading."
"A gripping and inspiring account of the discovery of a new life of faith. The author adds zest to the new dialogue between evangelical Christians, Catholic and Protestant. . . . A refreshing and deeply moving expression of the foundational truths of the gospel from which all our activity should flow."
"This extraordinary book makes God's grace more amazing than ever, and you will find yourself 'lost in wonder, love and praise.' "
"Gritty realism, passionate love and humorous holiness fuse in these pages and energize mere reading into a lively conversation with [Pippert's] companions on the Way."
"Carries the fundamental teachings and realities of Christ into the heart of our contemporary distress. . . . The teaching is deep, the stories realistic, instructive and uplifting. I finished with tears of gratitude to God for his indescribable gift."
"A no-nonsense, practical book for those who have failed and don't know what to do about it."
"A challenging and hopeful book for those who are weary of playing God yet frightened of surrendering to grace."
"Must reading for all who are searching for the meaning of life and are ready to do all that God's Spirit will reveal as necessary."
"Rebecca Pippert speaks to the question that haunts me almost every day of my life: What difference does God make? Her answers are clear but not facile, honest but hopeful, and above all truly Christian. She helped me where I hurt, taught me where I am ignorant, and made me hopeful where I despair."
"Bekcy Pippert has done it again. In Hope Has Its Reasons she boldly confronts the unwillingness of our society to face the reality of sin and compellingly paints the panorama of hope and healing that the Scriptures so beautifully offer."
"Shows a depth and sensitivity in its exploration of our humanity which is rare in our superficial age of formula answers . . . Discusses the complexities, ambiguities and struggles of human life with a candor which will touch the hearts of her readers--believers and nonbelievers alike. . . . [Pippert's] eloquence, honesty, intelligence and faith shine brilliantly."
"Few people have explored more profoundly than Rebecca Manley Pippert the uneasy gulf that separates modern secularism from traditional Christian interpretation of human nature. Ranging brilliantly from Camus to Freud and Nietzsche, Pippert diagnoses the various self-deceptions that people engage in to avoid the unpleasantness of true moral self-knowledge. The book is stunning. Not for a generation or more has anyone set forth so powerfully or movingly the Christian view that humanity's primary curse is a moral one and that the ultimate solution has already been made available to us."
"I can think of no greater burden than to live without hope. But for many of us hope is nothing more than a fingers-crossed human act of wishful thinking. In this powerful book Becky encourages us to take a brutally honest look at all that is true about our lives--and in the midst of that unsettling picture she shows us the source of our real hope. For those who live with doubt and shadows, the gift of this book is solid, well-reasoned faith and the light of the Son of God himself."
"I am very glad that Becky's book is being reissued. In my earliest days planting a church in Manhattan I discovered that her Christian vision had deep appeal to many of the most secular and skeptical people. I personally learned much from her for my own preaching and teaching. I highly recommend this volume."
"Becky Pippert reads widely, thinks clearly, believes fervently and writes beautifully. The result--a good read that gives reason for hope."
Acknowledgments
1. The Problem with the World Is Me
2. The Lie That We're OK
3. The Lie That We're in Charge
4. Worshiping the Wrong Things
5. Who Can Tell Me What Is Wrong?
6. The Cross
7. The Resurrection
8. How Do We Change?
9. Living the Cross
10. Living the Resurrection
Notes